Team of EU lawyers in PMR to examine statehood

A team of lawyers from the European Union visited Tiraspol, PMR's capital, to review its claim to statehood

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Although unrecognized by the internationally community, Pridnestrovie is nevertheless a sovereign state under international law. The small country, which is popularly but incorrectly known as Transnistria, meets the requirements for statehood with a permanent population, territory, government and the capacity to engage in foreign relations with other states, if they want to do so.

That was the conclusion of an extensive examination by a team of lawyers international legal experts from the European Union. After visiting Pridnestrovie and seeing the facts on the ground, in person, they are now urging the Foreign Ministries of their countries to engage in a foreign policy based on an honest and realistic assessment of the actual situation.

" - Your state meets all requirements under international law", said Luc Michel from Belgium during a press conference in Tiraspol where he was flanked by Western European lawyers on both sides.

Patrick Brunot, a counselor to the International Criminal Court based in the Hague, Netherlands, and also lecturer at universities in New York and Paris, was the head of the delegation.

Other visitors included Philippe Chonse-Valmont, a French conflict resolution expert and foreign legal advisor to the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominique Jurden, a French lawyer, and Dominic Van Hey, a lawyer, psychologist, and university lecturer from Paris, France.

The delegation arrived in Tiraspol to study the legal basis for international diplomatic recognition of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. During the visit, parliamentarians and international law experts examined the history of Pridnestrovie, its state creation under international law, and the context of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and, with it, the dissolution of the former Moldavian SSR.

As a result of the visit, international law expert Philippe Chonse-Valmont will publish a full report on the team's finding and the situation in Pridnestrovie, which will be submitted to the foreign policy commissions of all European Union parliaments.

Information blackout facilitate misinformation

Living in an unrecognized state, the people of Pridnestrovie must contend with a barrage of propaganda against them which seeks to isolate and demonize them.

" - We have stayed in Pridnestrovie for two days only, but we’ve already seen and learned lots of things. We can say for sure that the news that we read was often not true. Many journalists fabricate their stories," said Patrick Brunot. "I’d like to say that other experts should visit your country to have a chance to see things with their own eyes."

Much of the information about Tiraspol is wrong, coming from third-hand sources who put their own slant on the news.

" - Those who strongly oppose the recognition of Pridnestrovie make every effort to promote a negative image of Pridnestrovie in Europe, since this slows down the recognition process."

By inviting the open involvement of Western lawyers, locals in Pridnestrovie hope to break stereotypes and have their claim to statehood evaluated objectively on the basis of the facts alone. Vice-Speaker of Parliament Anatoly Kaminsky and Chairperson of PMR's Commission for foreign policy and international contacts Sergey Cheban, an ethnic Moldovan, had meetings with the team of lawyers and political experts from France and Belgium.

" - It’s of great importance to us that people visit our republic, and then write and tell about it. We need to make ourselves heard. At present we can only do it through such meetings, through direct people’s democracy,” said Anatoly Kaminsky, Vice-Speaker of Parliament. (With information from vspmr.org)

See also:
» No precedents in the unique case of Transdniester
» US intelligence briefing predicts future PMR statehood as "likely"